Improvement in thread-waxers for sewing-machines



z. `SARGENT & M. CHASE. Thread-Waxe for Sewing-Machines.

Nd. 131,786. Y Patented 0cr.1,172:

` of this smoother and clamp.

sel A has two apertures at a. a' in it, through "UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

ZEBADIAH SARGENT, OE ROCHESTER, NEw HAMPSHIRE, AND MILTON CHASE, i OEHAvERHILL, MASS., ASSIGNORS To THEMsELvES, HORACE CHASE, OE

BOSTON, AND ORRIN CARLETON, OE HAvERHILL, MASS.

IMPROVEMENT INl THREAD-WAXERS FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

To all whom 'tmay concern: A Be it known that we, ZEBADIAH SARGENT, `ofRochester, in the county of Strafford and State of New Hampshire, andMILTON CHASE,

of Haverhill, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented a certain Apparatus for Waxing Thread in Sewing-Machines, ofwhich the followin gis a specification:

-\ The main feature of our apparatus is a cov- A ered vessel to hold theliquid wax used, the

thread passing through openin gs suitably packed down, and intothe waxand up and from it. The other parts of our invention relate to minorfeatures of our apparatus.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a vertical section through an apparatusembodying all the features of our invention, and the other iigures y aredetailed views.

The wax-reservoir is a vessel, A, closed or covered by a stopple orcover, B, which ts into its mouth, or is otherwise suitably secured toit. For convenience in filling the reservoir with the liquidwax a tube,C, is inserted in the stopple. This tube also serves as a support for`the thread-guides D, E, and F, the first two being attached to thecross-piece Gr, fast to the upper part of the tube C, and thelatterattached to the lower end of the tube C. This cross-piece G hasalso attached to it the smoother H, and the clamp I and its appliances.i Fig. 3 is a section through x zu, and is intended to show the detailsof construction The closed vesone of which the thread enters, andthrough the other leaves the vessel. These apertures are :made largeenough in practice to receive each a thin sheet of felt folded at itsmiddle to form two cushions, and secured to a thin metal plate, againstwhich a spring bears, and

thus compresses the thread between the folds of the felt. In practice weusually apply a setscrew to that cushion, at af, through which thethread leaves the vessel, in order to regulate the degree of pressure ofthe spiral spring upon the thin metal plate, and thus regulate thepressure of the folds of felt upon the thread, thus insuring the properWaxing of the thread. In most cases it is desirable that the liquid waxused be kept well stirred, and for this purpose We make the thread-guideF in the form of a pulley, with blades or beaters projecting from itsperiphery, and so mount it on an axis that it will be revolved by thepassage ofthe thread. The apparatus represented in Fig. l is especiallydesigned for the McKay sewing-machine, the sleeve J fitting upon thespindle in that machine, and thereby allowing the necessary motion ofthe wax-reservoir A and thread-holder K, and at the same time allowingthe thread to be used from the ball,

both vessels A and K being suitably secured to the spindle. The ball maybe placed directly within the vessel A.

The operation is as follows: The thread is passed over the guide D,which in practice is also a tension device, down through the folds offelt in the aperture at a, into the waxand under the guide F, and up andout of the closed vessel through the folds of felt in the aperture c',over the guidev E and through the smootherH 5 thence to thestitch-making point. The springs which act against the folds of felt ata and a allow a knob or other inequality in the thread to pass through.The guide E receives the thread as it comes from the waxreservoir, andin timetakes up some of the wax from the thread, and also roughens thethread because of its fibers sticking more or less to the guide, so thatthe thread requires to be smoothed after itleavesthis guide, to pressdown these fibers and remove what wax it may carry with it from theguide E, and for this purpose the smoother H is used. This smootherconsists ofa piece of felt folded and between two jaws of metal, oneofwhich is the end of the cross-piece G, and the other is a jaw hinged tothe former and held'to'it bya set-screw and spring, as more fully shownin Fig. 3. The wax taken from the thread of this smootherv drops .intothe pan L. `The thread passes from this smoother through a guide, b, andbetweenthe jaws I I ofthe springclamp, and through a second guide, b.These guides and this spring-clampare mounted upon a spindle, c, withinthe sleeve d, and can be moved together longitudinally on this spindle.The sleeve d is fast to the end of the cross-piece Gr. When the operatordesires to handle the thread he grips it between the jaws I I of theclamp, and thus does not get the wax on his fingers. When he releasesthe clamp its jaws yproperly guided into and out of the Wax, and

the amount oi' wax left upon the thread easily regulated. lt is oftendesirable to keep the liquid wax stirred, and the means foraccomplishing this constitute the second part of our invention-namely,the agitator combined With the Wax-reservoir, and actuated by the threadas it is d raWn through the liquid Wax.

It is necessary to carry the waxed thread over a pulley or some otherthread-guide very soon after it leaves the Wax, and inasmuch as the waxis still sticky the bers of the thread are very apt to be rcughened byreason of their sticking to the pulley and thus mar the thread, which`should be as near like that waxed by hand as possible. When waxed byhand the thread is drawn through his fingers by the operator to smoothit and the third part of our invention is designed to remedy thismarring of the thread by a process similar to that which it undergoeswhen smoothed by the operator,

and consists in using a smoother, H, through which the thread passesafter it leaves the pulley, and which removes any surplus Wax taken upby the thread from the pulley, and leaves the thread as smooth,substantially, as if smoothed by hand. 0n nice Work it is important thatthe hands of the operator be kept free from Wax, Which is impossible ifthe thread be handled by him after it leaves the wax, as is oftennecessary; and the fourth part of our invention consists in means forenabling him to grip the waxed thread Without soiling his iin gers-namely, the sprin g clamp so combined With the Wax-reservoir that it can bemoved from it and returned to its usual place.

What we claim as our invention is- 1. The WaX-reservoirA B C, whenprovided with a thread-passage, a a', and constructed as described.

2. An agitator, F, actuated by the thread to be biwaxed, in combinationwith the Wax-reservoir, all substantially as specilied.

3. The spring-clamp I I, when combined with the Wax-reservoir,substantially as described.

4. The thread-guides D E F, mounted upon the stopple or cover B,substantially as shown.

ZEBADIAH SABGENT. MILTON CHASE.

Witnesses FRANCIS J LIPPITT, HENRY W. HOLLAND.

